15 High Quality Tips and Tricks For Video SEO

Name: Adaptify
Brand: Adaptify
Rating: 4.8 (78 reviews)

August 23, 2023
Published: July 16, 2020

Content

What Is Video SEO And Why Do I Need It?

Video SEO marketing is essential for every successful business strategy. While the addition of video is becoming increasingly popular, most brands and their SEOs don’t place a high priority on it. However, when used properly, video can be an extremely powerful form of content and make a significant contribution to your overall SEO strategy, in more ways than one.You may be asking yourself why is video SEO so important? The answer: so it can be indexed.But what does being indexed mean? Simply, the index is a large database that Google uses to store information about webpages that have been analysed. This process is called ‘crawling’ – if a website has not been crawled and is not present in the index, then it just doesn’t exist according to the search engine. Therefore, it’s important to apply video SEO best practices to ensure your video, as well as you overall webpage, is being indexed by Google and has the opportunity to be placed in the SERP of potential users.

Video SEO Tips & Best Practices

We’ve put together 15 tips and tricks to get you started on your video SEO journey and generate the traffic you’ve always wanted straight to your website.

Choose the right video hosting platform
Keyword search
An appropriate title and description
Your thumbnail MUST be engaging
Generate a video transcript
Relevancy is key
Embed the video you want to be ranked first before any others
Make the video the focus of the page
Rich Snippet
Get help from an expert
Social Media
Knowing your audience
Product and introductory videos
#Tagging
Promote, promote, promote!

With video SEO, your business is one step closer to its conversion goals, just like 83% of video marketers, according to HubSpot, who say that video has helped them generate leads. An optimised video will help you improve views, shares, and engagement in general as well as drive more traffic to your overall website. However, knowing where to start when it comes to video SEO can be a tricky task.

1. Choose the right video hosting platform

Choosing the right hosting platform is just as important as the video itself. You’ll need to first consider what your objectives are with the video. What do you want to achieve? Is it as simple as brand awareness, or something more measurable like optimising your video to gain site traffic and new leads? Many people automatically think YouTube when it comes to their desired video sharing platform. According to HubSpot, YouTube is the fourth most-used social media platform by marketers and therefore, if you’re looking to simply generate brand awareness, then this may work for you. However, when attempting to expand traffic to your website, it may be advantageous to explore other, more advanced routes. Platforms such as Wistia could be more beneficial. Wistia is a professional video hosting site for businesses and automatically inserts SEO metadata. It’s important to do your research when finding your appropriate hosting platform and ensuring that your video is seen by the right people.

2. Keyword search

There’s no SEO without keywords! Put your thinking cap on and do your research. Think about the keywords or phrases that usually come under your niche. What will the audience use to do their searches on Google and what words should you use to ensure your video is being shown to those who are looking for it? Use your keywords in your titles and descriptions – allow people to find your video easily.

3. An appropriate title and description

Put those precious keywords to good use! Optimise the video’s title and description by including the most important keywords which you want your video to be ranked for. The title should be descriptive, attractive, and short. Whereas your description can be lengthier – detailing the important aspects of the video right at the beginning. Make sure it is clickable and interesting while ensuring it makes sense and promotes the best part of the video. Don’t be bland. Make it exciting and get creative!

4. Your thumbnail MUST be engaging

No one wants to watch something that doesn’t seem appealing. Make sure your audience knows exactly what they’re going to be watching through a creative, high-quality thumbnail. The video thumbnail is what people will see when your video is indexed, therefore making it an attributing factor as to whether it will get clicked on or not.

Wordstream

A good thumbnail can increase conversion rates dramatically – and ultimately, that’s what you want. But what makes a good thumbnail? Well, you need to remember that a good thumbnail grabs your audience’s attention and at the same time, portrays the content of your video accurately. Make sure it’s attractive, professional, and in high resolution. Don’t use your company’s logo as your thumbnail – think outside the box.

5. Generate a video transcript

(Blogger)

You may have overlooked it in the past but adding a transcript or closed captions to your video can be extremely beneficial. Not only does it allow users to absorb the information in a different way (reading rather than listening) but it also allows you to add keywords, so Google knows exactly what your video’s about. This is especially favourable for longer videos or when a video is the focus of one of your webpages. Transcripts act as a copy page which means it’s indexable and can help you rank higher for more searches.

6. Relevancy is key

Always keep it relevant! Don’t just rely on optimising your video. Ensure that the page it is placed on is just as relevant as the video and that it has also been optimised for SEO – otherwise, your amazing video is pretty much stored away collecting dust. Search engines won’t bother with your video if the page it’s on isn’t as relevant or as optimised as the video is. Ensure you’re utilising SEO marketing strategies to optimise your webpages (you may want the help of an expert agency in determining what these strategies could be.) If the page your video is on is too generic or is not at all relevant to your content, then any chance of it ranking is extremely low.

7. Embed the video you want to be ranked first before any others

Google only indexes one video per page, so make it count. If you’re planning to add more than one video to your webpage make sure the more important one, and the one you want ranked, is the first you embed into the page. Don’t saturate your webpage with too many videos which may impact the ranking of your targeted video. Focus on the one video and utilise video SEO best practices to ensure it ranks highly when searched for.

8. Make the video the focus of the page

You don’t want your video to be lost in the background. Bring it front and centre by ensuring it’s the focus of the page. Any video that’s hidden or hard to find will naturally not get a high number of clicks and therefore, it won’t be indexed. This is imperative as a study by Wyzowl has shown that 99% of people who used video for marketing in 2019 will continue to use video in 2020 – meaning marketing through video has increased in popularity and therefore, having your video indexed is integral in generating any leads.

9. Rich Snippet

(Biteable)

What is a rich snippet and why have I never heard of it? Although the name may not sound familiar, you’ve definitely seen them pop up in your Google searches before.

Put simply, rich snippets help you stand out. On Google, when you’re competing for the top spot with nine other webpages – you’ll want to offer something unique to the users. Rich snippets provide your audience with more information than what would necessarily be placed on Google search listings. Google will display information about the video you have embedded onto your webpage – therefore, letting your audience know that when they click on your website, there’s a video ready and waiting for them. You’ll be able to showcase a thumbnail and the length of your video, so make sure it looks appealing and interesting to watch. For more information on rich snippets, you can have a watch of Google’s official explanation.

10. Get help from an expert

Knowing where to start when it comes to optimising your video for SEO may be challenging. Gaining assistance from an expert digital marketing agency may be helpful. Adaptify provides a wide range of video advertising services including video optimisation. With video marketing continuously growing, placing your trust in a reputable digital marketing agency like Adaptify not only guarantees you fast, successful results, but also takes the burden and pressure off your own shoulders. Seeking help from a practised agency allows you to focus more on content rather than optimisation. If you’re having trouble, leave it to the experts!

11. Social Media

(SocialMediaImpact)

According to Wyzowl, 93% of brands get new customers because of the videos they’ve posted on social media. It’s no secret how powerful and important social media platforms have become, and video content plays a large role in this. Studied by HubSpot show that video is the second most used content type on social media used to increase audience engagement. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube, video content is everywhere. Make sure you’re utilising social media marketing to its full potential by circulating your video online. Don’t just stick to one platform. Upload your video across as many platforms as you can to generate the most brand awareness.

12. Knowing your audience

You won’t be able to gain the right traffic or optimise your video for the right people to see if you don’t know who your audience is. Make sure the video you’ve made will be engaging to the right people and use the appropriate methods to promote the video. If you’re looking to target teens, young adults or even those a little more mature, social media could be your best option. This will also dictate which video hosting platform you use. YouTube may be the best for a younger demographic, but those wanting to target businesses may use Wistia. Know your audience and know them well!

13. Product and introductory videos

Whether you’re attempting to sell a product or a service, it’s no secret that video advertising is a great way to gain an audience’s attention and explain what you’re offering in a more creative and engaging way. Many retailers utilise product videos as a way of showing customers what they could be buying. It’s a great way to increase conversion rates of your website using video content. According to Wyzowl, 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video. By utilising video SEO best practices, you can not only increase traffic to your website, but also increase your sales in the long-term.

14. #Tagging

(Backlinko)

Tags help Google and other search engines better understand your video. Again, this comes down to keywords and how well you know your niche as well as your audience. Use tags that are relevant, interesting, descriptive, and important. Don’t tag useless, irrelevant words that may anger your viewers instead of drawing in audiences who feel they have learnt or gained something constructive from your video.

15. Promote, promote, promote!

You want as many people as possible to watch your video and the only thing that will make this happen is by promoting it! Whether it’s through social media or other forms of traditional promotion, don’t let your video shy away from the spotlight. Generate successful video SEO by sharing it on as many platforms as possible and constantly engaging in its content. Don’t waste time, get promoting now!

By implementing these video SEO marketing tips, you’ll be on your way to indexing your videos and webpages that are highly optimised with the right keywords and with the ability to draw in your desired audience while generating more traffic for your business.

Contact Us Today

If your business requires video SEO marketing but you’re not sure where to start, assistance from a digital marketing company could be what you’re looking for. Adaptify is an expert digital marketing agency that specialises in video advertising and optimisation. We are expert in other services too like PPC, SEO and more . For more information on our video SEO services or for any queries, contact us on 1300 423 566 or visit our website.

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